Garment



r 46 Jd 6 132 Jan. 7,- 1947.

E. LESAVOY GARMENT Filed Aug. 17, 1945 INVENTOR EL Y 4 574 Y0 Y Patented Jan. 7, 1947 UNITED E S T F'Fl CE -G'ARMENT Ely 'Lesavoy, "Allentown, Pa., 'assign'or, by mesne assignments, to Lisle Mills, Inc., Allentownfla,

a corporation of Pennsylvania Application :Augustll, 1945, Serial No. 6114 125 '3 'Claims.

The present invention .relates .to garments and a method of making thesame; and relates more particularly .to .body garments, such. as, undershirts or the like, .of the sleeveless, .neckless,..sl-ipover type.

Heretofore it has ibeenicustomary to formgarments of the character indicated by lcuttingua flattened tube of fabric transversely at the top and bottom of the length corresponding to the length of the garment to be formed, then cutting a U-shaped portion out of the tubular section or length thus formed, intermediate the sides thereof -to form a pair of U-shaped openings .at one end in .each wall of the tube, then cutting the tubes transversely from one side towards .the middle along an arcuate contour vto provide the front portion of a neck opening, and cutting the tube transversely from the other side towards the middle along-an .arcuate contour to provide the back portion of the neck opening The U- shaped openings and the neck portions were shaped and positioned to provide four strap-like sections, of which, .upon folding the tube into a longitudinal plane perpendicular to the plane in which the tube was flattened while the cutting operations were performed, adjacent pairs were seamed together to provide shoulder straps. When the strap sections were so joined the U- shaped openings were .closed to form the arm holes of the garment and the front -and back neck portions formed the neck opening.

The foregoing method, of making the. garment has several disadvantages. In making the transverse cut the operator may notcut .at a perfect right angle to the side of the flat tube which would result in a finished garment having one shoulder strap longer than the other. The said prior method requires twosewing operations .to seam the shoulder strap sections. .In performing these sewing operations, the operator very frequently overlaps one .of the pairs or sections more than the other pair thereby likewise causing one shoulder strap to be shorter than the other. This is very objectionable because the garment will fit the wearer improperly whereby it will have an unsightly appearance and will cause the wearer discomfort. In instances where the unequalness of the straps is'quite pronounced, the garment must be disposed *of as a fsecond, which results in a :loss to the manufacturer.

Another dimculty, which occurs quite frequently,-..is: that "the shoulder strap sections are improperly joined in the sewing operations. aFor example, a section may be twisted or reversed, the edges of the sections may be bunched or wrinkled, or the edges may be insufficiently overlapped sO that the seam will separate. These difficulties likewise result in that the garments can only be disposed of as seconds.

The present invention aims to overcome the foregoing difiiculties by providing an improved garment of the sleeveless, .neckless, slip-over type and a method of making the same wherein the sewing operations of the strap sections are eliminated and the shoulder straps are seamlessly formed integral with the tube from which the garment is made.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved garment of the character indicated.

Another object is to provide such a garment having shoulder straps conforming substantially to the slope of the shoulders of the wearer and thereby being more comfortable to the wearer and giving the garment a better appearance when worn.

Another object is to provide a, method of making the garment by a single stamping operation.

A further object is to provide an improved method of vmaking the garment, which method eliminates the shoulder strap sewing operations and thereby is quicker and results in a saving of labor and also greatly minimizes rejects or seconds.

Other and further objects of the present invention will be manifest, from the following de scription and the accompanying drawing.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a .plan view of a fiat tube of fabric having superimposed thereon .a pattern for cutting a garment .of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the garment folded substantially into a plane indicated by the line 2--2 on Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing the upper portion of the garment of Fig, 2;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig 1 but showing the prior method; and

Fig. 5 is a View of a garment made by the prior, method.

Referring to the drawing, and more particu vlarl-y to Fig. 2, there is shown a garment H! such as an undershirt comprising .a seamlessly formed. tubular body portion I2 having a lower edge M at one end, and arm holes l6 and a neck opening 18 at-the other end, so formed and arranged to define a pair of shoulder straps 2D.

As illustrated the shoulder straps are continuous, that is, seamless, and 'are integrally formed with the body portion 42. Also, the

straps 2.0 are inclined or sloped outwardly and 3 thereon. When the tube is out along the transverse line 30 and along the curved line 32 at the opposite end and a hole 34 is formed therein a garment blank is formed. The forming of the garment blank will be described presently in more detail.

In making the garment, the tube 26 is flattened or doubled upon itself, the lower edge 30 of the garment blank is formed by cutting the tube 26 transversely and the neck opening is formed by cutting the tube transversely along the line 32 having an arcuate contour shaped to provide the front of the neck opening and along the line 38 having an arcuate contour shaped to provide the back of the neck opening. The lines 32'and 38, which meet at 40, form an upwardly bulged or curved section 42 at the upper edge of the garment. An arm hole 34 is formed in each layer or wall of the material at the middle of the tube adjacent to but spaced from the upper edge a distance whereby the upper portions of the 'arm holes and the lines 32 and 38 so define the section 42 and adjacent portions to provide seamlessly joined shoulder strap sections 48.

In commercial practice, the foregoing operations in accordance with my invention are, performed simultaneously by stamping the garment blank from the tube by means of blanking dies which sever the garment blank at the lower edge 30 and the lines 32 and 38, and cut out superimposed arm holes 34. It will be understood that the method of the present invention can also be advantageously employed by manually severing the tube as indicated, for example by shears or scissors.

Afterjhe garment is formed the edges of the neck opening and arm holes may be provided with binding 46 as shown in Fig. 3.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that the present invention provides an improved garment and a rapid method of making the same which results in a speed up of production, saving of labor and production cost, and greatly minimizes rejects or seconds.

In order that my present invention will more readily be understood and its advantages over prior garments of the character indicated and the prior method of making such garments more readily appreciated, I have illustrated the prior method and a garment made thereby in Figs. 4 and of the drawing.

As previously mentioned in the prior method of making garments, a garment pattern such as 50 is laid on a flat tube of fabric 52 and out along the transverse line 54 to form the bottom edge of the garment blank. The tubular fabric is then cut transversely along the dot and dash line 56, after which the front and back neck openings 58 and 60, respectively, are formed and an opening 62 formed for the arm holes. This blank is then folded, as shown in Fig. 5, into a longitudinal plane perpendicular to the plane in which the tube was flattened. When so folded it will be seen that, due to the transverse out along the line 55, each portion which is eventually to form the top of the shoulder strap is severed and must be stitched together along the lines 66 to form the complete shoulder strap.

Should the operator fail to make a perfect straight-line transverse out it will be appreciated that the top of one shoulder strap will be longer than the other.

When sewing or stitching the tops of the shoulder straps to each other it is customary to fold the edges over upon themselves to avoid unraveling of the fabric. As will be appreciated the operator may fold over more of the fabric in one shoulder strap than the other.

When, due to the cutting operation or the folding or stitching operation, one shoulder is made longer than the other, the garment will not fit properly, as previousl indicated.

It will be appreciated from the foregoing description of my improved method and garments made thereby that many operations are eliminated, such as cutting, seaming and stitching, and that a more perfectly fitting garment is provided. 7

While the present invention has been described in connection with an undershirt by way of example, it will be understood that invention applies to other garments such as slip-over sweaters, bathing suits, bandeaux, slips. bras. aprons or in fact any sleeveless, slip-over garment having shoulder straps or the equivalent.

While I have illustrated and described a preferred embodiment of my invention it is to be understood that I do not wish to be limited thereto as obviously various changes and modifications may be made in the method herein described and the garment illustrated and described Without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

What I claim is:

1. The method of forming a garment of the character described from a fabric tube flattened along lines midway of the portions thereof which are to constitute the front and back of the garment, comprising cutting out rounded areas of the superimposed layers of fabric substantially below the upper end thereof to constitute the armholes, and also severing both layers of the flattened tube on a contoured line above the cut-out rounded areas to form the front and back neck portions of the garment and shoulder straps therebetween.

2. The method of forming a garment of the character described from a fabric tube flattened along lines midway of the portions thereof which are to constitute the front and back of the garment, comprising cutting out rounded areas of the superimposed layers of fabric substantially below the upper end thereof to constitute the armholes, and also severing both layers of the flattened tube on a contoured line arched above the said cut-out rounded areas thereby providing portions which form shoulder straps.

3. The method of making a garment of the class described comprising the flattening of a fabric tube to present superimposed layers of the fabric which are to constitute front and back portions of the garment, cutting out portions of the superimposed layers to form registering open areas therein to constitute the armholes of the garment, also cutting away the fabric of both layers at some distance above the said open areas so that the latter will be bounded by a strip remaining in each superimposed layer of fabric to constitute a shoulder strap when the tube is opened.

ELY LESAVOY. 

